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In his online interview for "Sovetsky Sport" Alexandr Medvedev said that in the new Open Russian Hockey League there will be a strict limit for salaries: $22.5 mln per club ($15 mln base + $7.5 mln for 3 star players). Also all contracts and budgets will be clear and public.

It's hard to know for sure but the figure for Sweden looks accurate. Still, most players probably earn less than that and the average is raised by a few high earners. I have heard that average players at Brynäs(SEL and my home town team) earn about 150,000 a season. There is some evidence to back this up but rarely anything official.

Another thing to remember is the depreciating dollar rate which means that European salaries look higher than a couple of years ago just because of that.

Couldn't that be a major reason why so many Finnish players leave for Sweden?

The better pay across the pond is definitely the main reason why so many Finns play in Sweden. I have no trouble in believing that the average salary is bigger in Sweden than in Finland but I don't think the gap is that big. I think the Finnish average salaries are somewhere in the neighborhood of DEL and NLA, definitely should be bigger than in Czech Extra League.

Another thing that racks Finland "unfairly" low on these digits is the relatively small amount of foreign players in the Finnish Elite. There limit of foreign players (meaning players without a Finnish passport) is four per team, meaning that often the clubs are forced to find the best domestic substitute available instead of the best available overall. And of course they're not viewed as much worth paying to as a high-profile foreign player.

Of course, even if looked through this viewport, SM-liiga still doesn't get to compete with SEL or NLA in salaries. I believe the player with best salary on season 06-07 was Michal Bros of Kärpät, €250,000, making it roughly $300,000 with the exchange rate back then.

Another thing that racks Finland "unfairly" low on these digits is the relatively small amount of foreign players in the Finnish Elite. There limit of foreign players (meaning players without a Finnish passport) is four per team, meaning that often the clubs are forced to find the best domestic substitute available instead of the best available overall. And of course they're not viewed as much worth paying to as a high-profile foreign player.

Of course, even if looked through this viewport, SM-liiga still doesn't get to compete with SEL or NLA in salaries. I believe the player with best salary on season 06-07 was Michal Bros of Kärpät, €250,000, making it roughly $300,000 with the exchange rate back then.

It would seem that this restriction can't be the only reason for the different salaries, after all there is the same kind of restriction in Switzerland. There can only be four foreign players on the roster for each game.

Also, I'm not a great fan of statistics like that, as they can be very misleading. Take for instance the difference between the SC Berne and HC Ambri-Piotta or the SCL Tigers in Switzerland. Player salaries diverge significantly depending on how much a club can afford.

It would be interesting to look at the ticket prices, the attendance prices, the influence of sponsoring and public interest to evaluate what factors effect salaries most.

Up The Irons!

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"L'année de trop? Je l'ai faite quand j'avais 13 ans." = "If I played a year too much, it was the year when I was 13." -Gil Montandon, when asked if he wasn't a year too old to sign a contract as a hockey-pro at the age of 40. (That was in 2006. He went on playing professionally till the end of the 2008/09 season.)

It would seem that this restriction can't be the only reason for the different salaries, after all there is the same kind of restriction in Switzerland. There can only be four foreign players on the roster for each game.

Well yes, the Swiss do have more money.

It's a really curious thing to note how small-time operation the Finnish Elite actually is in a country that practically eats, drinks and breathes hockey (second only to Canada I think) and yet it succeeds in being in quite high esteems if we think the levels of quality of play and entertainment.

Seriously, read all of my post. Not many of the top clubs have a big budget, it's maybe a third of the league's clubs that raise the average salary of players.

Add to that the refusal of Swiss national television to show hockey games (rumours are, it's because the director of the tv station has a personal grudge against some hockey people), and it can get quite difficult for the smaller clubs to find sponsors and keep the gap between the individual player quality in their team and that of the rich clubs from growing.

Up The Irons!

-

"L'année de trop? Je l'ai faite quand j'avais 13 ans." = "If I played a year too much, it was the year when I was 13." -Gil Montandon, when asked if he wasn't a year too old to sign a contract as a hockey-pro at the age of 40. (That was in 2006. He went on playing professionally till the end of the 2008/09 season.)

I know what Nick Angell who played for Brynäs in the Elitserien made. He was paid SEK 343,137/month. His monthly salary was higher than others because he got paid during six months only but his yearly salary was more than SEK 2 Million($ 340,000/€ 210,000). I don't doubt there are others who earn more.

There is a debate in British hockey just now about how expensive British players are. Shouldn't really come as a surprise, though. When you only have 3 imports per team, they can over-charge you since they are the scarce resource. When you have 10 imports per team in a league that rarely plays a 4th line, your Brits become the scarce resource and so the import-quality ones can charge what they like.

Anyway, it is being widely circulated that Stevie Lyle was being paid £850/week by Basingstoke at the start of the season before they hit money problems. Then again, I've heard Basingstoke fans admit that their early season budget would have blown the wage cap had they kept that team all season long.

Graham.

"It's very hard to talk quantum using a language originally designed to tell other monkeys where the ripe fruit is."
---
"Night Watch", Terry Pratchett

Hmm, the finnish stats lies, cause they have taken the avarage of a small number of the players and calculating their taxes, finaland should be over tha checks at least in dollars. And Färjestad wanted Pesonen but his salery per month was about 45 000 euros(60 000 dollars) so they could not afford him???

Hmm, the finnish stats lies, cause they have taken the avarage of a small number of the players and calculating their taxes, finaland should be over tha checks at least in dollars. And Färjestad wanted Pesonen but his salery per month was about 45 000 euros(60 000 dollars) so they could not afford him???

The stats might lie but that is not the reason. In 2007 82% of the players sent in the survey about their salaries. You can't call that "a small number of the players".

Slovakia

In Slovakia, the top stars can earn 200 000$ per year, but those are just top 5 players in the league mainly from Slovan Bratislava (Robert Dome, Richard Kapus, Sasu Hovi, Marek Uram). Ziggy Palffy is an exception he earns around 350 000$ per year. There is a huge difference between teams, top teams can pay 50 000$ (for scoring line players). I would say 30-35k is average.
It is pretty hard because nobody really talks about players' salaries in Slovakia and there is a huge difference for the 3rd and 4th liners comparing to team leaders.

Do you guys know how much is it in Austria?

Originally Posted by Karsten

I had a hard time placing this thread but decided to put it here.

In the new edition of The Hockey News there is much focus on Europe. Among other things, THN estimate the average salaries in the European top leagues.

Although it is a very difficult topic, I thought we could have a discussion on this.

For openers, the first thing I don't get is the estimated figures in THN.

Would anyone know what the average and/or top salaries are in other lower European leagues, such as the Netherlands Eredivisie, the French Ligue Magnus or the UK's EIHL?

In the Dutch Eredivisie, teams spend roughly about € 5000 to € 8500 per week on net salaries.
This year's top scorer received about €850 net per week (for 29 weeks). Then again, there are players who get nothing but expenses paid, or absolutely nothing at all (like youngsters still living with their parents, for instance).